| FTBL Josh Frazier's mother pens blog post to recruits and parents

bama alum

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Pretty pissed off Mama Bear! Quite an...allegation here!


To the Alabama Recruits & Parents,
First of all, I just want to say CONGRATULATIONS on your efforts and hard work that earned you the attention and interest of the University of Alabama, a most elite football program. You are no doubt by now enjoying the gorgeous facilities and campus of a university of great renown and fame for reasons too many to name.
Without question, you and your families have endured and sacrificed much throughout this journey. Having grown wiser and stronger for being on this journey, I'd like to share with you what you can expect from this program as a player and as a parent or loved one. You should expect that this school will roll out the red carpet for you, but you will need to take extreme care that this carpet is not leading you directly into a ditch. And if it does, as it has for so many others, have a solid action plan in place for how to GET OUT!

Just 6 years ago, I and my son, Joshua Frazier, walked onto that campus to hospitality and respect...the likes of which I have ever witnessed before or since. You should also expect your presence to command attention and admiration anywhere you go in the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama this weekend and beyond if this turns out to be your (or your son’s) home for the next several years.
You should also expect that since you’ll be attending on a full athletic scholarship, that you will have to work twice as hard as the typical student to get the exact same degree, should that be your goal. If your quest to reach the NFL is through Alabama, please know, you will endure great strife and struggle to get there, if you should make it there at all.
Parents, for you, other than cutting the rug doing the cupid shuffle and enjoying a few delicious, mouth-watering meals at Nick Saban’s elegant home, here’s what you can expect for your son. He will be immersed into the typical football player culture full of all the typical attractions. But once your son is on campus as a student-athlete, he will enter what I have come to reference as the “sunken place.”
Your son is there to play football and MAKE MONEY for that university and for that program! Do not make the of assumption he is there to be educated, but you can be certain he will surely be indoctrinated into a culture of secrecy and isolation. This football program, like far too many others, has what I have come to call a win-at-all-costs culture, so if you do decide to attend this school, just know, that cost can be anything up to and including your son’s very life. That's just a risk that goes along with playing the sport regardless of where it's played.
As far as this program is concerned, I believe it takes way too many risks with the bodies and minds of their players. Consider Nick Saban's handling of the very seriously injured Tua Tagovailoa during this past season. Coach Saban demonstrated lack of discretion and judgment by putting this young man in the game after he limped off the field against LSU just one week earlier. Although Tua clearly lacked the ability and mobility to avoid defenders effectively, he was put in the very next game which ended with him being carted off the field with a dislocated hip. Rather than give him the time needed to heal and prepare for the approaching NFL combine, which is/was his reported plan, his season has ended with a devastating injury and an uncertain future in football.
Just read for yourself what came out of Nick Saban's own mouth as reported by Erik Hall of USA Today Network:
I don't know about any of you, but as the mother of an elite recruit, if I had heard any coach put together those words, in that order, in ANY context, I would have strongly urged my son to RUN, DON'T WALK, as far and fast as he could in the other direction from that program.
Furthermore, it is of the utmost importance that you, as players and parents, maintain all possible lines of communication while involved with this program. If those lines are cut, your son will be all the more vulnerable to the very deceptive tactics used by Nick Saban and his coaches.
Joshua Frazier fell prey to one of those very tactics during his Sophomore year when he was approached by his position coach one day after practice and coerced into taking Vyvanse, a very dangerous, Schedule 2 narcotic (amphetamine) which is a performance enhancing drug accepted and allowed by the NCAA. This drug is highly addictive and has dangerous side effects which can include SUDDEN STOPPAGE OF THE HEART, PREMATURE AGING OF THE HEART, and even DEATH if abused or taken for extended periods of time.
At no time did any medical professional or staff member in this program notify me that my son suffered from any medical conditions that required the use of such a drug nor was Joshua ever encouraged to discuss anything with me before taking it. To put it simply, when I sent my son to the University of Alabama, he was healthy and drug-free. He graduated in just 3 ½ years with a degree in Communications and a wicked addiction to Vyvanse.
Just in case you're wondering, Joshua is now 11 months free of this horrible addiction and in the process of returning to some degree of normalcy following this incredibly painful journey. Although his passion for the game and respect for the fans will never end, he departed from football after his rookie year.

After being drafted in the 7th round of the 2018 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Joshua was waived from the 93 man roster. During the same season, made his way onto the Detroit Lions practice squad just prior to the end of a dismal season and was immediately picked up by the Birmingham Iron (AAF). He suffered a season ending injury and has decided to never return to the game as a player. Despite receiving 3 additional opportunities from 3 more NFL franchises, he refused to even return his agent's calls. After serious contemplation of the cost vs. the reward, for him, the cost was just too high!
I’ve now told you what you can expect. Now, I will end by asking you a question. What would you expect to get when you mix some of the world’s most finely tuned and trained athletes with the illicit and rampant use of a very powerful P.E.D. like Vyvanse? I don’t know what your answer sounds like, but for Joshua Frazier and my family, it sounds like deception, betrayal, and an addiction that has changed his life forever. For Nick Saban, the answer probably sounds something like, “CHA-CHING!" MONEY IN THE BANK as a result of multiple back-to-back championship seasons.
Finally, above all else, please remember this: Football is NOT A GAME! It’s a MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS! Our SONS are the game...or maybe "PREY" is a better word! Just know that right now, YOU HAVE THE POWER TO CHOOSE! While I cannot tell you what to do, based on my own experiences, I can tell you what to expect, and the decision is yours alone to make. Just please do your due diligence in asking questions, demanding answers, and holding the coaches accountable for their actions while coaching your son towards his future endeavors in football wherever he should decide to attend school. Hopefully, somewhere in those choices you will strongly consider taking your talents to an
HBCU!!!
If I knew then what I know now, I would have strongly emphasized to my son the need to consider either Prairie View A&M or Texas Southern University which are two schools my family shares a long and rich history of receiving quality education from caring and knowledgeable instructors and coaches who, in my humble opinion, are much more likely to cultivate, appreciate, and understand the REAL VALUE of what it means to be Young, Gifted, and Black!
I pray that as you make this impactful, life-changing decision, may The Most High Yah increase you abundantly in wisdom and understanding. I pray he orders your steps in a plain path and on a rock solid foundation. Let no wicked plan or device succeed against you. And may he mightily protect you from all hurt, harm, and danger in whatever form that may appear.
Now, go do what so many of those who came before us have done!

Go...Be...GREAT!

Sincerely,
Donna Frazier,
a/k/a Ruqiyah Hadassah
 
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Interesting indeed. Looks to me if there were any real indiscretions she would expose them. With regards to not telling her that her son took a legal performance drug, why do the coaches need to run things by the parents? Isn't the player no longer a kid? Shouldn't the player inform mom instead of expecting the coaching staff to do it? This is not high school. Saban does demand and expect a lot of these players with the potential reward at the end for those that make it.

A lot of innuendo in this letter but only one example of what she calls deceptive practices and that is the legal performance drug that her son became addicted to apparently. Hope he truly gets that resolved. However she then uses Tua as an example, why use him? He and his parents seem to be ok with things at bama so why is she pointing to him?

Lastly, what does she have to gain here? Is this truly a conviction of hers or is something else behind it with signing day coming?
 
With regards to not telling her that her son took a legal performance drug, why do the coaches need to run things by the parents? Isn't the player no longer a kid?


Good point. HIPAA law actually would ban the school from releasing any medical information to the parents without the express permission of the student themselves. Same with grades or any other schoolwork related items under another law.
 
This letter by Ms Frazier is really weird. And her motivation seems false.

1. How many Alabama players, under Nick Saban, have been led into a ditch, as she warns? The rate of those players graduating, and being paid to be professional football players, however, is outstanding, INCLUDING Josh Frazier. She states that these parents should not "make the assumption that he is there to be educated." HA! How many young players have been suspended by Saban simply because they did not attend class??? His graduation rate is what, fourth in the NCAA among power 5 schools? How many of these young men also attain a masters degree before their playing days are over??? So why WOULDN'T they assume that????

2. She accuses Alabama of being a school where the culture is win-at-all-costs, and that the cost could be "anything up to and including your son's very life." We have read about the Maryland player dying, but no one has died at Alabama, practicing or playing, nor have their been any reports or accusations of putting a player's health at risk. I can think of players, however (most recently Nigel Knott) who were told they would not play any longer for Alabama because it would risk their health, and were advised to give up football altogether. Apparently she is implying that taking Vyvanse could have killed him - just see BELOW!

3. She says that Tua "clearly lacked the mobility" in the Miss State game, but, funny, he ran all the way to the sideline on the play where he fractured his hip, and was the one pushing Saban to let him stay in for the 2 minute drill.

4. Concering Saban's quote about not worrying about players getting injured, she, and the USA today reporter, most certainly DID take Coach Saban's words out of context. IF you don't care about the context, you are no better than any of the political pundits that will take a politician's words out of context to suit their point, rather than being impartial and fair. We all know what Saban meant, and how he expounded on that in the post game interview.


5. Josh Frazier was an 18 year old ADULT when, and IF, he was prescribed Vyvanse. I am an MD and frequently see 18 year olds and prescribe them medications. They are free to decline these medications, and/or speak to their parents about accepting these prescriptions, BUT I do not routinely encourage my patients to consult with their parents before we begin a medication. Vyvanse is NOT a PED. It is used for Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD. It is NOT a narcotic, but a stimulant. It can increase dependency, but it is not a 'highly addictive" drug. While there have been CASE REPORTS of sudden stoppage of the heart, which CAN lead to death, in patients with structural cardiac anomalies, this is not a normal risk of the medication, and all athletes are screened for such anomalies. Abuse of the drug can also lead to cardiac issues - does she think her son would abuse a prescribed drug? Ms. Frazier accuses Coach Saban and others of deceiving Josh Frazier - how was he deceived???? She implies coercion to take the drug - that's serious; it implies threat or force. It would not be a part of normal medical practice for any physician to participate in coercion. Perhaps a coach pressured Josh to seek a prescription for Vyvanse -I hope not, but again, it would be between Josh and an MD to make a final decision.

ADD is not a medical condition, as she claims, but a mental condition. IF Ms. Frazier was as interested in her son as she claimed, why DIDN'T she know that he took Vyvanse? Did they not communicate regularly? Did he feel ashamed to tell her? Or did she not take the interest in her son that she implies? Did Josh actually trust some doctor or coach enough, that she implies pressured him., not to tell his parents about this medication? Or was that really never the case?

6. Ms. Frazier begins the letter "To the Alabama recruits and parents" but she apparently meant "To the BLACK [my emphasis] recruits and parents", since she states that these players are black, and should go to black schools. Some of her words at the end of her letter imply she is a Christian. How Christian is it to apparently only care about the black athletes, and not the other races? I am a Christian, but referring to Jehovah as Yah is a bit unusual, as is someone who has not converted to Islam being known by another name ("a/k/a Ruqiyah Hadassah)- I don't know what's going on there, but for better or worse it makes me a bit more suspicious of Ms. Frazier.

I certainly hope that Josh was never pressured nor coerced to take a medication he didn't need, but in the state of Alabama, he had to be monitored monthly by a physician to continue to receive the prescription- those are the regulations, and there are high penalties for not following these regs. I hope he did not become addicted, but Ms. Frazier certainly claims he was. I hope he was not deceived into taking the medication, but I highly doubt he was. I DO know that Josh graduated with a degree, and with an opportunity, being drafted, to play in the NFL - isn't this why he came to the University? So he received what he wanted from the University. I have to wonder what the graduation rates, and the draft rates, for Texas Southern, and Prarie View A&M, are for the last 10 years? Could they have given him what Alabama did?

The letter is harmful, not factual, and disingenuous. It is disappointing and sour grapes. And I have to wonder why Josh Frazier didn't co-sign it with her if these are truly the facts and he truly had to overcome an addiction that changed his life forever all because he went to the University of Alabama and became hooked on a stimulant??????
 
If she had real evidence of some wrong doing she would expose it. All programs can and should look for ways to improve on things they do it however does not mean what they are doing is illegal or against any kind of NCAA or moral law...

From my first post what does she have to gain? Moral conviction, revenge or harm bama (recruiting)? If the latter why?
 
Hope they find peace and comfort, it's an elusive butterfly.

It's her perspective, so it's her truth. What Mark's or others say is irrelevant to her story...just saying.

Can't be a blog if it only a single post.
 
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